Apparatus for heating fluids



\hve i Qgseyk .Q\\ m ey Y NOV. 21, 1944.

J. W. CHAMBERLAIN APPARATUS FOR HEATING FLUIDS Filed March 11, 1942 23 7 W HA Patented Nov. 21, 1944 i UNITED STATES PATENT r OFFICE APPARATUS FOR HEATING FLUIDS A I Joseph W. Chamberlain, Zeeland, Mich. Application March 11,1942, SerialNo. 434,134

Claims. (01, 25792) i 1 This invention relates ingeneral to an appa'; ratus for heating fluids either in the liquid or gaseous state. While the device is designed so as to heat practicallyany fluid, it has been shown to operatesatisfactorily in the milk industry and therefore, for purposes of. illustration I have shown and described theapparatus as it relates particularly to the heating of milk which may Or may not subsequently have a further operation performed thereon.

At the present'time in such equipment as pres heaters, pasteurizers, evaporators and roller driers, commonly usedin milk plants, the milk I is heated either by means of steam at tempera 1 turesof 212 F. ormore, or by means of circulatcase both the spray pipes {and the heating surfaces have to be cleaned periodicallyin. order to keep the equipmentlingood condition.

ing or sprayinghot water. There are particular disadvantages arising out of the use of such heating means as far as milk is concerned and it is presumed that similar disadvantages are "also present in heating other fluids. there'is a 10 or more difference between themilk being heated and the heat applied to it the milk will burn on the: equipment thereby not only affecting the efiiciency thereof but'also affecting the taste of the milk itself. In the case of heating the milk by hot water it is necessary toilow Generally if I the water around the surface to be heated within which the milk is confined by means of bafiies or confined pipes and in such case there will be a coating deposited on the tubes or heating surfaces which not only acts as a layer of insulation to thereby reduce the efiiciency of the equipment,

, When steam is used under ordinary conditions to heatthe milk it necessarily has a temperature ofat least2l 2 F. and there is necessarily a great amount of burning on of the milk within the pipes .orcoils through which it is circulated due i the liquid which carry, the milk or fluid to be heated." Any desired means; may be used for heating the water or liquid within the chamber and for purposes of illustration I have preferred to show a series of steam coils which carry steam at approximately 2125B. or mores If the liquid pass through the chamber above the surfaceof used isxwater and it is. desired to heat the milk. tosay. 140;1F. thenall of the'air possible is removed from thechamber toglower the boiling point of the liquid. The water is then heated to the desired temperature whereupon the vapor risingtherefrom will contact the conduits carrying but also necessitates a periodic tearing down and cleaning of the equipment itself.

Another disadvantage arising from the use of 1 hot wate is that it is quite hot at the time it enters the equipment and immediatelystarts to cool down as the heat is transferred to the milk so that it is quite cool before it leaves the equipment to be reheated and recirculated. This can be overcome to a certain extent if the capacity of the equipment is quite large, and a great amount of water can be circulated, but this has I disadvantagesfroni a practical standpoint. Ordinarily when hot water is used high pressure steam isused to heat'and circulate the water and if a company has low pressure steam which might otherwise go to waste it must provide a special water heater orspecial water system in order to use thelow pressure steam for the heatingof the water. There is also the disadvantage ofbeter. afterit enters the circulating system. There ing unable to control the temperature of thewaare instances when a hot .water spray is used, such as in the case of spray pasteurizers,in which the milk, transfer the heat thereto, condense and return to. themainbody of the liquid. In this way substantially no scale will be formedon the outside of the conduits, or at least it will be deposited .thereononly once, since the same water is used continuously, after which time there will be no impurities leftinthe water to forma scale thereon. If the temperature differencebetween I the milk entering thechamber and. the liquid vapor therein is sufficientlygreat there will necessarily be a-small amount of fburning on of the milk within thaconduitsbut at least there will not be as much as when the milk is heated by steam or, hot .water at stillhigher temperatures sinceit isapparentqthat the temperatures of the.

vapor in suchi case as above mentioned willbe only F. 3 It should also be noted that with my apparatus wastesteam at lower pressure can be used. to heat the water which in turn heats The temperature :within the chamber is governed by therate of vaporization and condensation of the liquid therein; If vaporization takes temperature of the vapor.

place more rapidly than condensation, then the pressure in the chamber will be increased thus raising the boiling point of the liquid and the zation is controlled by the amount and temperature of the steam in the steam coils.

It is therefore oneof the objects of this invention to provide a means of heating milk or other substances with steam or other liquid vapor to any desired temperature above or below the temperature of such vapor at atmospheric pressure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a heating apparatus for milk or otherfluids which will obviate the necessity of periodic taking apart and cleaning of the equipment. I H i r A still further object of the invention isto provide an apparatus which will eliminat the for mation of water scale on the heating surface.

7 Still another object is to provide an apparatus which is capable of being controlled in such a way as to heat the fluid to any desired tempera- This rate of vaporiwith selected pairs of conduits thereby providing otally mounted the door 8 and at the opposite side of the chamber a latching mechanism generally indicated at I I is provided to securely lock the door in closed position. A gasket will be provided between the end of the chamber andthedoor to insure a tight seal preventing leakage of milk.

A Any means may be used for reducing the pressure within the chamber such as a'vacuum pump shown at l2 which may be connected by means.

' of the conduit [3 with an opening 14 at the top ture and maintain'it at that temperature for a period of time. i

Other objects and purposes of the invention will appear more fully asth description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafterfully described and particularly pointed out in the claims The annexed drawing and following description set forth in detail certain means for carrying out my invention, said means constituting, however, but one of various ways in which the principle of the invention maybe employed. V i

In said annexed drawing, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views:

y ig. 1 is a vertical longitudinalsection through the chamber of my'invention. I v

Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged fragmentary horizontal section through one end of the chamber disclosing a novel means for connecting together the conduits in'p'airs. I

Fig. 3isja vertical transverse section through the chamber looking 'toWardbne end thereof.

' Fig. 4 is'a diagrammatic view and end elevation of a plurality of chambers interconnected disclosing onemethodof-progressively heating a fluid.

R'ferring moreparticularlyto the drawing and more especially to Fig. 1,; the chamber which is used in carrying out the'inv'entionjs indicated 'at I, In the bottom of the chamber there leprovided a quantity of liquid, such as water, substantially up to the level of the dotted line indicated at .2, an overfiow pipe't'is provided which extends through the lower side'of the chamber, and at its upper side the chamberhas an inlet tube 4.

roam the chamber 111 the spaeeebeve the 7 liquid I provide ja plurality ofconduits "5 which have a milk inlet at6 a l-2 am outlet-1. In the I particular construction whichI have shown the conduits themselves extend merely between the ends of the chamber and connections between the pairs 'of' conduits whereby the milk is continuallycirculated are provided on the' inner surface of thedoors 8 located one at eachend of the chamber. The only conduits which extend entirely through the doors are theinlet and outlet ends 6 and 1. Referring now more particularly'toFig. 2 it will be seen that each door 8 is provided with a plurality of recesses 9 of such size and ihsuch a position as toconnect tightly of the chamber. In the conduit 13 a control valve I5 is located and in the end of'the conduit is located-a relief valve l6. Also at any desired location in the chamber -a combination pressure fines of the water or other liquid located therein. The usual boiler 19 is provided which is used -ina system of this nature to provide steam which passes through theiconduit zuand 'to the steam coils 18. The opposite ends of thecoilsrare con nected with an outlet pipe -21 where the steam may return to the boiler in a-condensed form. Under ordinary circumstances-the temperature of this stea n passing through the coils -l-8 will be substantially above 212 F. but regardless -of the temperature of such steam the vapor within the chamber which heats the *milk can-not rise above the temperature of vaporization Ofthe liquid therein previously determined-by the pres sure which is to be maintained "within the chamber.

In cases where it is desired to increase the temperature within the chamber it -may 'be done of steam entering -the steamboils I-B and for purposes of regulating'the'amount of steam in the .coils I' provide a valve 22 locatedin the inlet line 2 i]. This valve isautomati'cally controlled "as will be more clearly set forth 'hereinafter.

'If sufficient "steam "at "a sufficiently: high tem- 'perature is passing through the -c'oi-ls l-8 -it may be possible-that the rate of vaporization will be so much-faster than the rateof-cOndensation thereof that i a pressure will "be 'builtup within the chamber'excee-ding' atmospheric pressure. *If and when this --situation occursthe 'safet'y valve it mentioned above will "be" released "-to prevent damage to thecha'm'ber itself.

In 1 Fig.- 3 there isrdisclose'd thercontrol valve fi having a 'connecti'on'24 '-wi-thathermostat bulb 23 located in awe'lded-inwellwithin the-chamber and beneath thev surface of =the liquid "therein.

The thermostatrcan be set "to-&the-'-desired' temperature within the? chamber and will'automatizcally 'control'th'e valve 22n that t'he right amount 'duits.

in-lFig. 4 wherein I have shown a pluralityof chambers I connected inseries. These chambers H of steam will pass through the coils 18 to maintain that temperature. Itmay be well topoint out fiherelthat this thermostat could also be in within the contemplation of my inventionto construct' an. apparatus whereby the milk maybe heated progressively and gradually from a low to a high temperature. It will be obvious when this is done that if the temperaturedifference between the heating medium and the milkat the time it enters the chamber isnot too greatthere =willbe little or no burning on of the milk in thecon- An apparatus of this nature is disclosed are similar to the ones shown-in Fig. 1 and contain the usual milk conduits 5. However, the outlet r of one chamber is connected to the inlet of the adjacent chamber. This may be carried on t as great a number of chambers as desired, but for purposes of illustration Ihavepreferred to show three chambers so connected. The connecting means between the outlet'and inlet conduits of adjacent chambers are indicated at 25.

In this system and method of progressively heating the fluid the usual vacuum pump is provided which is connected to the various chambers by means of the pipe I3 and valves l5. In this method a lower vapor pressure will be maintained in the initial chamber to which the milk is admitted, and a progressively greater pressure is created and maintained in each successive chamber. Theusual liquid and steam coils are located in the bottom of each chamber and the liquid is brought to the desired boiling point in each case. In the first chamber however the boiling point will be lower than that in subsequent chambers due to less pressure on the surface of the liquid. It will be obvious then that in a system of this nature the fluid to be heated may reach a relatively high temperature in the last chamber, but it may be heated to such temperature progressively by a slower process so-that if the fluid is milk, there will be little or no burning on{ thereof.

Either of these forms of the device may be utilized for example, for pasteurizing milk. If the ordinary pasteurizing procedure is to be carried out the milk will be brought to the approximate temperature of 143 F. and maintained at that temperature for a period of substantially 30 minutes. On the other handif the process known as flash pasteurization is to be carried out the temlittle or no water scale formed on the heating surfaces for reasons mentioned hereinbefore.

I do not intend to belimited to the milk being carried through the chambers in conduits, since this method can easily be carried out by merely providing a tank with a jacket therearound from which the air has been exhausted and in which the water and steam coils are located. The milk inthetank will then be agitated and the process carried on in themanner described above.

From the foregoing description itwill be obvious that I'have. constructed a novel means for heating fluids-and specifically for heating milk, which means, has decided advantages over milk processing equipment now in use; the factthat I am able to substantially lessen the burning on of milk the flavorthereof will be decidedly improved. Because of the further fact that little or no water. scale. will be formed on the heating surfaces it will seldom, if ever, be necessary to take the equipment apart for external cleaning.

. The ease with which the insides of the milk conduits can be cleaned should be noted due to conduit, are provided in the doors of each end of.

thechamber so that when the doors are opened both ends of every tube will be open so that they can be easily swabbed out. 7

It will also be evident from the foregoing description that the same rate of heat transfer will take place over the entire heating surface in contactwith the milk which is being heated. This is an advantage which has not been able to be obtained heretofore. Also it is a decided advantage that low pressure steam can be used for heating purposes obviating the necessity of using a separate heater and watercirculating system.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be used instead of the one here explained, change being made as regards the structure herein disclosed, provided, however, that the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent'of such stated means be em ployed.

I, therefore, particularly point out tinctly claim as my invention:

1. An apparatus for heating fluids comprising,

and disa sealed chamber, a body of liquid in the lower part of said chamber, means for conducting liquid to be heated through the chamber located above said first mentioned liquid, means for circulating a heat supplying medium through said.

liquid to raise its temperature to its vaporization point under the conditions of pressure within said chamber, means for effecting an initial preselected condition of pressure within said chamber to thereby preselect the temperature to which the liquid inthe chamber boils and vaporizes, and means for automatically controlling the passage of said heat carrying medium through said pressure within the chamber and reduce the boiling point of the water to a predetermined stage,

means'to heat the water to the boiling point whereby steam provided thereby will heat the fluid and will condense and return to the body water, and means for automatically controlling the means heating the water to reduce heat acting on the water, upon increase of water temperature under pressure of vapors therefrom.

3. An apparatus for heating fluids comprising,

By reason of a sealed chamber partly filled with water, conduits passing through the chamber abovethe war ter through which the fluid to be heated is circulated, means for withdrawing air from the chamber to reduce pressure therein below atmospheric pressure and thereby lower the boiling point of the Water, means to heat the water to the boiling point whereby steam wili rise and condense on the conduits toheat the fluid therein the condensed steam return to the body of the Water, said heating means comprising conduitspassing through the'body of the water and carrying a heated fluid, said conduits -having a supply inlet conduit, a valve in said last mentioned conduit for regulating the passage of fluid,

and a thermostat extending into said chamber in the body of water "having means connecting with said valve to automatically operate the valve to reduce the passage of said heating fluid pressure within the chamber and consequent boiling temperature of the water increasing substantially above the initially selected chamber pressure and water temperature at which the water boils. i

4. An apparatus for heating fluids comprising, :a sealed chamber the lower part-of which water meal-'1 s is located','meansfor withdrawing air from the chamber to reduce the pressure within the chain:

ber andltheiteby reduce the boiling point-of the i v water to a predetermined-stage, means to heat the water to the boiling point and to produce steam, means for automatically controlling the water heating means with relation to the tenile perature of the water and to maintain azconstant temperature thereof and a container to contain the-fluid to he heated, said container being within said chamber and in contact with the steam therein. 7 v

5. An apparatus tor heating fluids comprising,

.a sealed chamber iii-the lower part of which liquid is located,means tor'wi'thdrawing air from the chamber to reduce the pressure within the chamber and thereby reduce the :kioili-ng point temperature thereof and a container to contain the fluid to be heated, said container being in contact with the'vapor in said chamber.

- JOSEPH 

